The Strongest Demigod I've Ever Met
by vovo611
Summary: When Percy discovers a bump on his arm, Annabeth drags him to the doctor, saying that it's better to be safe than sorry. But Percy is neither safe nor sorry. He has cancer, and it may just wreck the strongest demigod ever.
1. Chapter 1

"And what's happening with you today?" asked Piper.

"Oh, I have a doctor's appointment today," said Percy casually. "Annabeth's coming with me."

"Oooh…,"said Leo. "Going to the doctor together already?" He grinned at them. Annabeth swatted his arm. "Ow!"

"Yeah," said Jason, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Shouldn't you propose to her first?" Annabeth leaned across the table and swatted his arm. Laughing, Jason left the table and moved to sit on the other side of Piper, out of Annabeth's reach. Annabeth sent a silent message to Piper with her eyes. Piper nodded and looked down at her food. Then, out of the blue, she swatted Jason's arm. The table erupted into laughter.

"No, seriously," said Hazel. "Why together?"

Annabeth grinned at Percy. "Percy doesn't like doctors," she said. "Percy will forget everything they tell him because he gets nervous."

"Oh, shut up," Percy groaned, and buried his head in his hands. "How did that enhance their life in any way, Annabeth?" he asked. "And for your information, the last time I forgot what they told me was years ago."

"Two years ago," Annabeth retorted, to general amusement. "Only technically does two years count as years."

"Bickering like an old married couple," said Leo, laughing. "So why are you going to the doctor?"

"Oh, before Hera took me I found a bump on my hand," said Percy. "Annabeth swears it's gotten bigger but I think that's ridiculous."

"I just think it's better to be safe than sorry," Annabeth said reasonably. "It doesn't hurt to get him to look at it."

"Yeah, it does," said Percy quietly. "It puts a hole in my very small college savings fund."

"Hey, you said your hand hurt!" said Annabeth. "Think about it. If it's something serious, you wouldn't gain anything from saving your college money now, you won't be able to use it later anyway, because something would've happened to you."

"Fine, fine," said Percy. "We're going now anyway." He heaved a sigh and stood up. "If you don't come now, we're going to be late." He headed down the hill, not even looking to see if Annabeth was coming. She got up and waved goodbye, following Percy down the hill and out of sight.


	2. Chapter 2

**To ArtemisApollo97: Don't worry. My new version won't have Chiron crying for another three chapters at least. What's your story called? I'd love to read it. And hey, you were my first reviewer! Thanks!**

**To Guest: It actually is possible to have osteosarcoma (bone cancer)in your humerus (upper arm bone). When I said 'hand,' I meant the general hand area, not specifically the hand. But I'm pretty sure you can get osteosarcoma there too. And while Percy Jackson may not be mortal, he can still get sick. He can still die. So yes, even the savior of Olympus can die. He almost did fifty bazillion times already.**

**To smegol26: You can be sure that if Percy is going to die, he will fight really hard. But do you really think Annabeth would let him die? My self-restrictions are that if Annabeth was making up the story, I can only do what she would do. I mean, she probably would NOT have given him cancer, but, you know, aside from that. Then again, I am very unpredictable. The best thing about self-restrictions is that it's not so hard to take them away! MWAHAHAHAHA!**

**Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Percy Jackson. You can bet that if I did, the House of Hades would be out already *****ahem, ahem, Rick Riordan*****.**

Percy signed in and went to sit with Annabeth at the corner of Dr. Maddox's waiting room. Annabeth looked around, admiring the paintings, while Percy just sat there, overcome with nerves.

_What if Annabeth's right?_ he thought. _What if it _is_ serious? _Just then, a blonde woman in blue scrubs and glasses looked over the top of her clipboard and called, "Jackson? Percy Jackson?"

Percy stood up, his stomach in knots. He heard Annabeth standing up behind him. She put her hand on the small of his back, right where his Achilles spot had been once. He walked forward and followed the nurse into a small room with a table. Percy sat on the table and Annabeth stood uncomfortably in the corner.

"Dr. Maddox will be with you in a moment," said the blonde woman. She turned and left the room.

"This is your one and only chance," Percy said, half-joking. "You embarrass me now and that is the last time you come with me to a doctor's appointment. I don't know if this was even a good idea in the first place…" He trailed off as the doctor came in.

"Hello, Percy," said the orthopedist. He was short, almost as short as Coach Hedge, and had very light, pale skin. His eyes were a light, light blue. His hair was white and matched his lab coat. Percy could almost see straight through him. "I am Dr. Maddox. I am an orthopedist, and I heard you are having some problems with your arm?" he asked, finishing his sentence as a question.

Percy glanced at Annabeth. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, there's kind of a big bump there and my girlfriend's freaking out."

Annabeth just smiled. She was fine with Percy using her as an excuse for his nerves.

The orthopedist picked up Percy's right hand and looked at the bump on his upper arm. "I obviously can't say anything about it just by looking at it, but you should schedule a biopsy and we'll go from there."

Annabeth interjected, "When would the biopsy happen?"

The doctor looked at her. "I don't think I have many appointments for today," he said. "I can do an in-office biopsy. It's on a different floor, but just go to the receptionist and tell her you want to schedule a biopsy. Ask her for the next available biopsy appointment, and I bet there's one for today."

"When would we find out what's wrong?" Percy asked.

"It depends," said Dr. Maddox. "Sometimes we can get the results back within minutes, sometimes it takes a few days."

"Okay," Percy said. He stood up, rustling the paper on the table. Dr. Maddox walked to the door and held it open for them. "Thanks," Percy said, as he and Annabeth left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. If I did, The House of Hades would be out already *ahem, ahem, Rick Riordan*.**

Julie, the secretary, turned out to be very nice. She told them that there was a place on the fourth floor where Dr. Maddox could do the biopsy in an hour, so they could just hang around.

She told Percy what to expect, which was first a CT scan to determine the best place to do the biopsy, then an injection to numb the pain, and then an instrument called a punch would remove a circular section of skin that went through all the layers of the lump on his arm.

"Sounds painful," Percy said, hoping he sounded offhand. He had no issues with going to battle with swords and daggers, but the punch looked like an apple corer. It made Percy nauseous just looking at it.

"Not really," Julie said. "My daughter had one done when she was seven. And seven year olds cry over a paper cut. She only cried about the anesthesia needle, because she was afraid of shots. But she had her eyes closed for the actual biopsy, and when it was over, she goes, 'Mommy? Could they do it already? They're making me nervous.'" She laughed.

Percy laughed too. Annabeth looked at him. She knew him well enough to know that that laugh was fake, but Julie didn't suspect a thing.

"Was your daughter OK?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah. It was benign. But thanks. You know, for asking."

Annabeth smiled at her.

The whole talk had taken about an hour, so Percy and Annabeth headed up to the fourth floor to wait. Another blond secretary was there. She smiled and said her name was Jeanette.

"Percy Jackson?" she asked.

"That's me," Percy said.

"Room 432, OK, hon?" she asked, and Percy nodded. He turned to face the door. He swallowed, and left the room. Annabeth sat down to wait.


	4. Chapter 4

**I owe you guys a humongous apology. You may either stay to listen to my lame upon lame excuse, or go read the story.**

**School. It's just overwhelming. Thank G-d I'm finally back into a nice schedule, but I probably won't have an updating schedule for another month or so. Hang in there, all I have to get a hold of is my extracurriculars, and that shouldn't take too long.**

**Thank you for sticking with me for so long!**

On the subway back to camp, Percy's nausea had not abated. He felt like he was going to throw up every time he thought of what had just happened.

A ginormous shovel-type thing was just shoved into his arm and they dug out parts of his skin from a place on his body that was hurting already.

He opted to sit with his right arm against the edge of the seat on the strangely empty subway car. Every time the train lurched, though, Percy banged the swollen area and he felt it through the bandages. He was being very good at not gasping in surprise and pain, though, but Annabeth caught every silent wince.

"Are you okay?" she asked, for what must have been the millionth time.

"Seriously, I'm fine," he answered, and prayed that she couldn't tell that he was lying.

The doctor had told Percy that he'd give them a call when the results came in, and Annabeth had offered her cell phone number as the number to be called.

"He's not leaving my sight until he stops looking so pale," she said.

The doctor smiled sadly. "Tylenol should help."

Percy smiled at himself. He'd jumped into a polluted, toxic river in the Underworld, fought a Titan, and was one of the best swordsmen that Camp Half-Blood had ever seen. He was scared of a needle?

Annabeth looked at him. "You know," she said, "you really look much better."

Percy smiled at her, but he could hear the little tremor in her voice that told him she was lying.

He didn't know why it was such a big deal. Everyone probably had tests and things in their lifetime, right? So why was he stressing?

Maybe he was scared of what the results might bring.

_Either way, I have a handle on it now, _Percy reminded himself. _And there's no use worrying until we get the results back._

The subway rattled around a corner. Percy winced.

**And so ends a very short chapter. It is 2 pages long, but I apologize anyway.**

**Review responses:**

**Pollex- I have not had one done, thankfully, but I am very interested in cancer and the like so I will actually be researching all of Percy's symptoms and tests so I can become more knowledgeable about it.**

**Guest: He cannot just drink ambrosia, as you'll see in later chapters.**

**PoseidonStories8, Avid Reader, Elmlea, May Salome Love, doubles12, jelloqueen, smegol26, and ArtemisApollo97, thank you so much for reviewing. It means so much to me. I will try to make my chapters longer. Thanks for the feedback!**


	5. Chapter 5

Piper watched Percy push the food around his plate. She looked at Annabeth. Annabeth's eyes were worried.

"Does it hurt?" Jason asked. "Because I have Tylenol if you need some."

Percy started, and looked up. "No," he said. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"So why do you look so sick?" asked Piper. "You were fine this morning."

"I'm just… nervous, I guess," said Percy. "I just- I just keep thinking that it's nothing, and then I remember everything that it could be…"

He trailed off, looking at his plate. Frank frowned. Percy was clearly anxious. Frank hoped that Annabeth's phone would ring and Percy could find out whether or not he really had to be so worried.

As if by magic, Annabeth's phone rang. Percy jumped. All of the color drained out of his face, but there was another expression on his face, almost like… relief?

Annabeth flipped open the phone and read the caller ID. "It's him," she mouthed, handing Percy the phone.

Percy stared at it. "Um," he said. "Excuse me, guys."

He got up and walked a short distance away to talk in private. The eyes of the people at the Poseidon table followed him, as did Chiron's.

Annabeth watched Percy's body language as he talked to Dr. Maddox. His back was to her, and she watched as he brought his left hand to touch the mass of bandages hidden by his sleeve on his right arm, and as he slumped. "Oh shoot," she said, watching Percy's spine make an effort to stand up straight as he flipped the phone closed and started walking towards them.

Percy sat down at the table and sort of glanced around the table.

"What did he say?" prompted Hazel.

"He said… he said to come in tomorrow at nine and we can discuss the results. If- if there was nothing wrong, he would have said so, right?"

The averted eyes of the table's inhabitants gave him his answer.

**I know the chapters are short, but I can't figure out how to leave you hanging but still have each scene in a different chapter, the way I want. Hopefully they will get longer at some point, but no guarantees.**

**Guess what! My class voted me to be the editor-in-chief of our yearbook! So happy!‼!**

**Review Responses:**

**Percabeth the Potterjay- Thank you! Don't worry, the story will continue- I am not abandoning it!**

**Thatnerdychick14- Thank you, and maybe soon I can make my chapters longer.**

**Gragra- Benign means that the tumor is not malignant. You can also use it to describe a gentle person, like in Harry Potter, when it says something like "Dumbledore peered benignly over the top of his glasses." Or something like that.**

**Jello queen- Thanks!**

**Elmlea- Maybe, maybe not…**


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